scott



(No Model.)

B. H. SCOTT. METHOD OF WELDING METAL WHEELS.

N0.,478,643. Patented July 12, 1892.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMMET H. SCOTT, OF LA PORTE, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO THE NILES & SCOTT COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

METHOD OF WELDING METAL WHEELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 478,643, dated July 12, 1892. Application filed January 28, 1889. Serial No. 297,781. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern: the immediate surrounding portion of the Be it known that I, EMMET H. SCOTT, a citirim in which it fits may thus be readily heatzen of the United States, residingin La Porte, ed to the fusing-point and securely welded in the county of La Porte and State of Inditogether. The pressure for thus welding the 5 5 ana, haveinvented a new and useful Improveparts together while thus heated may be apment in the Art of l\lanufacturing Metal plied in any suitable manner or by any suit- Wheels, of which the following is a specificaable means, the force or pressure being extion. erted in the direction of the length of the My invention relates to the art of securing spoke and radially to the tire. 1o spokes 1n the rim or tire of metal wheels. In practicing my invention it is not essen- Heretotore the metal spokes provided with tial that the cavity or recess in the rim for suitable shoulders have nsuallybeen inserted the spoke to fit in extend entirely through in holes punched or drilled in the metal rim the rim, as the endwise pressure upon the of the wheel and then the projecting ends of spoke will cause its end to upset against or 15 the spokes upset or riveted to hold them in weld to the walls of the cavity, and thus be place, the riveting being done in the usual firmly fixed in or to the rim. It is preferable manner, without heating the end of the spoke, to thus heat the end of the spoke to the fuseither by hand or by suitable machines well ing or welding point, so that the metal of the known to those skilled in the artsuch, for spoke and rim will be welded togetherin one 2o example, as that shown and described in the solid piece; but it is not necessary to raise patent to Bettendorf,N0. 335,882. In this old the heat to the welding degree, as a less deprocess, the riveting being done coldand the gree of heat will cause the ends of the spokes spoke-holes being necessarily made entirely to be readily upset or riveted to the tire. through the tire, the riveting operation tends My invention may be used in the manufao- 25 to strain and fray the metal and weaken and ture of any ordinary form of metal wheels fainjure the tire so that the tires are afterward miliar to those skilled in the artas, for exliable to break or burst at the rivet or spoke ample, that shown in the patent to Seymour, hole. l/Vhen the spokes are thus secured in No. 394,885, or in the patents to Bettendorf, the tire by cold-riveting, it is also found that Nos. 325,585, 374,575, and 386,572, or those 30 they are more or less liable to work loose in shown in other patents of the United States the use of the wheel, and thus destroy the riheretofore granted. gidity and strength of the wheel. Where a welding-heat is used in practicing It is the object of my invention to provide my invention, it will not be found necessary a simple, cheap, and expeditious process of to form any recess or cavity in the rim for 3 5 securing the metal spokes in or to the metal the end of the spoke to fit in, as the square or rim of the wheel, whereby a perfectly-rigid flat end of the spoke may fit against the joint or union may be effected between each smooth inner periphery of the rim and be seand every spoke and the rim, and whereby, cured thereto simply by the welding. also, if desired, the spokes may be secured to The dynamo or generator for producing the 40 the rim with perfect rigidity without weakelectric current, as well as the devices for ening the rim or by forming spoke-holes en holding the parts together under pressure, tirely through it. employed in practicing my invention, are, or My invention consists in heating the rim may be, similar to those in use in ordinary ends of the spokes after they are inserted in electric welding-machines now in use and 5 the tire by passing an electric current through well known to those skilled in the art.

the same, as is done in the well-known pro- In the accompanying drawings, which form cess of electric welding, and then, while the a part of this specification, I have shown for end of the spoke and the surrounding wall of a better explanation of my invention at Figthe hole or cavity of the rim in which it fits ure 1 a sectional view of the rim and spoke 50 are thusheated, riveting or Welding the spoke in position for riveting or upsetting when the and tire together. The end of the spoke and end of the spoke is heated by the electric current, the end of the spoke being inserted in a hole extending through the rim. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the same after riveting. Figs. 3 and 4 are similar views illustrating the invention when the spoke-cavity does not extend entirely through the rim, and Fig. 5 shows the rim without any recess or cavity for the end of the spoke, the same being secured in place simply by the welding.

In practicing the invention the rim end or tenon a of the spoke A is first inserted in the hole or cavity 1) of the metal rim B, and then an electric current is passed through the same, as is done in electric-weldin g machines, until the end of the spoke is heated-for example, to a red heatand then the end of the spoke is upset or riveted inthe usual manner by applying pressure or blows thereto, either by hand or by a suitable rivetingmachine such as are now commonly in use. There the spoke-cavity doesnot extend entirely through the rim, as in Figs. 3 and 4, the riveting or upsetting is done by simply forcing the spoke end-wise into the cavity. Ordinarily I prefer to heat the end of the spoke to a welding heat, so that the spoke will be welded or united integrally with the rim.

If the welding heat is used in the form shown in Fig. 1, the end of the spoke being welded in the hole or recess formed in the tire, it will serve to render the rim or tire as strong at this point as it was originally before the spoke-hole was formed therein. If the parts, however, are not raised to a welding heat by the electric current, the heat will, nevertheless, not only facilitate the riveting or upsetting operation, but it will also prevent injury to the rim by the riveting operation.

I claim- 1. The process of securing metal spokes in the rims of metal wheels, consisting in, first,

V the tire, substantially as specified.

2. The process of securing metal spokes in 1 the rims of metal wheels, consisting in first putting the spoke in place within the rim, then heating the end of the spoke in contact with the rim to a welding heat and holding the rim and the spoke together under pressure, and thus welding them together, substantially as specified.

3. The process of securing metal spokes in t the rims of metal wheels, consisting in, first,

inserting the spokes in place in the rim; secondly, heating the ends of the spokes and the contiguous portion of the metal rim, and, finally, subjecting the same to force or pressure and welding or uniting the spokes and rim together, substantially as specified.

4.. The improvement in the art of attaching metal spokes to metal wheel-tires, consisting in introducing the end of the spoke into the other member, heating the contiguous portion of the two members to a welding temperature by directing an electric current therethrongh, and finally upsetting the spokes to complete the welding operation.

5. The improvement in the art of manufacturing metal wheels, which consists in passing the end of the spoke through a hole in the tire, directing an electric current through the contiguous portions of said parts,

and thereby raising their temperature to a welding heat, and finally upsetting the end of the spoke, and thereby welding the parts together.

EMMET H. SCOTT. Witnesses:

' J. VENE DORLAND,

WILLIAM TYRRELL. 

